Perspective: Tilt/Shift

Toni Hafkenscheid: Rollercoaster California, 2004



Toni Hafkenscheid: Diggers on Spadina, 2005

We like things that helps us change perspective. These are real landscapes.  In Issue 14 of Beyond magazine, we featured fine art photographer Toni Hafkenscheid  who used tilt-shift perspective to alter our perceptions of reality and memory by playing with depth of field and alternating sharp and soft focus.  Many folks have copied this technique since it first started showing up in fine art photography but Toni Hafkenscheid continues to be one of our favorites.

And then there is Amy Benett. At first glance, the work looks similar to tilt-shift photography or miniature work but these are actually oil paintings. Bennett says:

Two years ago, I contsructed a 1:87 scale model neighborhood, a fictitious cluster of eleven houses depicted through model railroading miniatures, styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic, complete with string telephone wires and working lights. The process of designing and assembling the setting over several months triggered my imagination to develop characters to populate the place along with a loose timeline of events that would culminate in the neighborhood’s history. I considered who lived in each home, their family dramas, and the way their private lives might spill into view of their neighbors. The model became a stage on which to develop the psychological implications of belonging to a particular family, with all of its dramas, struggles and familiar routines. I thought: this tree will be taken down after an old man crashes into it; a father will transform this lawn into an ice skating rink; this house will be abandoned after its residents are scandalized on the evening news.

The paintings are glimpses of a scene or fragments of a narrative. Some of the images are conceived of sequentially. While the images don’t necessarily need to be “read” in order, I am interested in storytelling over time through repeated depictions of the same house or car or person, seasonal changes, and shifting vantage points.

Amy Bennett: Losing It, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches

Amy Bennett: We Can Never Go Home Again, oil on panel, 22 x 36 inches

Make a cup of something and spend some time at her website. Wonderful stuff.

Comments

[Elaine]

Very wonderful stuff. Thanks for a different perspective. Amazing what you see when you put on hedge-coloured glasses.

Putting on the kettle for tea now and then heading over to Amy's site.